Tag: mellotron

Mike Pinder, last of the original Moody Blues, dies at 82

He was their keyboard/Mellotron player. It was an innovative instrument, kind of sampler and kind of synth that gave the Blues their lush orchestral sound in Days of Future Past. Pinder also recited the poem in Nights in White Satin. (Me, I thought that was an outtake from Spinal Tap.) Some stories from the innertubes: Their management company took their early earnings and ran to the hills. The band had a hit in France in 1965 with a version of Bye, Bye Bird, a Sonny Boy Williamson tune. There’s a clip from French TV that’s pretty good.